Dietary supplements with antioxidants: curcumin, coenzyme Q10, caffeine and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), influence lifespan, hypopharyngeal gland size, macronutrients, and antioxidants in caged honeybees (Apis mellifera)
摘要
The honeybee, Apis mellifera, is a managed insect species that delivers various hive products and plays a critical role on crop pollination systems worldwide. Female workers, which make up most of a colony’s population and perform all non-reproductive tasks in the hive, can be faced by multiple stressors. In particular, because they leave the colony, foragers are subjected to several environmental stressors, which affect the quantity and quality of the diet they obtain. Consuming a certain amount of products rich in antioxidants is enough to protect organisms from harmful effects and improve overall health. Naturally occurring compounds, including coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), curcumin, caffeine and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), are well known antioxidants with various health benefits. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate and compare the effects of the abovementioned antioxidants on the lifespan, hypopharyngeal gland (HPG) development, antioxidant system, and protein and lipid contents in caged honeybee workers. The tested antioxidants increased mean lifespan and protein and lipid contents, and improved HPG development and antioxidant system [via increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione (GSH), and by reducing accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA)] in caged workers when compared to controls. Bees fed on a diet with CoQ10 or curcumin showed the best results for all studied parameters, when compared to other treatments. Therefore, supplemental antioxidants may be an important strategy to improve honeybee worker performance and health. Future research is needed to evaluate the benefits of colony-level supplementation with antioxidants to develop suitable application regimes.